I am relatively purist (I sometimes sharpie bricks, and sometimes cut/glue if I don't have the right part/if necessary) but I want to make a decent army with a uniform color scheme using as many of the bricks that I have as possible, so it is somewhat necessary.

Minifigs are alright as long as you are a good painter. Otherwise, no, it's a terrible idea to paint the bricks so they match your army color. Paint eventually comes off with use or when you might want to wash your bricks, plus it will make it more difficult to use them in other colored creations.

My personal opinion is no. I hate the look of painted minifigs, it looks really cheesy. Actual bricks, I'd side with Bfenix on this one as well, if you use stripes on a car, for example, when you take the car apart, it'll be pretty difficult to find a new use for those bricks now that they have racing stripes on them.

ooooooooooooooooh. okay, I get it. That really wasn't my intention: I would, for example, paint an orange brick black, or another brick silver. I've seen it effectively done with bionicle masks before, and it looks a heckuvalot better than sharpie.....

Well.. If you do decide to do it, then you are going to want to use spraypaint. As thin as you can possibly make it. Even a little bit of paint is going to make it difficult for the pieces to fit together. either they will be way too tight, or they wont fit squarely, or they won't work at all. So be extremely careful. If you do it correctly however, it can be really useful. But you will want to be extra careful with painted pieces because if you are searching around in big bins the pieces rub together and the paint wears off.

Thanks for the thoughts, piltogg. I will definitely do some testing first, but the only reason I'd paint my bricks is to just make them look better for one moc. I wouldn't really care if it rubs off after one use.

enders_shadow wrote:My personal opinion is no. I hate the look of painted minifigs, it looks really cheesy. Actual bricks, I'd side with Bfenix on this one as well, if you use stripes on a car, for example, when you take the car apart, it'll be pretty difficult to find a new use for those bricks now that they have racing stripes on them.

My point exactly, thx Enders. And when I mentioned washing your Legos I meant it literally. When I came back from my Dark Age I had lots of bricks covered in dust and cotton, so I washed them with water and regular liquid hand soap. Crystal clear. Being able to be washed in water with little worries of ruining the bricks is one feature I really dig, although I only did it once.

agreed. also, If you want an awesome underwater/sinking shot, then you would like a block that stays the same color going in as coming out. I want a pic of a half-submerged apc, with troops pouring out trying to save themselves, while being shot at. Blood in the water. (J+B, this is to you, you're the picture geek here)

Long time ago i had a Megablox tank(with wheels for some reason), it came with a paint kit to paint on camo. The paint is fine if its a static model, but for something like Brikwars where its going to be taken apart and reassembled often, it's a pretty bad idea. Painting minifigures is less of a bad idea, since they are going to be taken apart less, but you may find that creative building and cutting accessories like tabards from cloth may work better.

I made a holster for my guy's knife and pistol with some cheap bendy plastic and superglue.